study of child life by marion foster washburne

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THE LIBRARY

OF

HOME ECONOMICS

A COMPLETE HOME-STUDY COURSE

ON THE NEW PROFESSION OF HOME-MAKING AND ART OF RIGHT LIVING;THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE MOST RECENT ADVANCESIN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO HOME AND HEALTH

PREPARED BY TEACHERS OF

RECOGNIZED AUTHORITY

FOR HOME-MAKERS, MOTHERS, TEACHERS, PHYSICIANS, NURSES,DIETITIANS,

PROFESSIONAL HOUSE MANAGERS, AND ALL INTERESTED

IN HOME, HEALTH, ECONOMY AND CHILDREN

TWELVE VOLUMES

NEARLY THREE THOUSAND PAGES, ONE THOUSAND ILLUSTRATIONSTESTED BY USE IN CORRESPONDENCE INSTRUCTION

REVISED AND SUPPLEMENTED

CHICAGOAMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS

1907


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AUTHORS

ISABEL BEVIER, Ph.M.Professor of Household Science, University of Illinois. Author U.S. GovernmentBulletins, "Development of the Home Economics Movement in America," etc.

ALICE PELOUBET NORTON, M.A.Assistant Professor of Home Economics, School of Education, University of Chicago;Director of the Chautauqua School of Domestic Science.

S. MARIA ELLIOTTInstructor in Home Economics, Simmons College; Formerly Instructor School ofHousekeeping, Boston.


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ANNA BARROWSDirector Chautauqua School of Cookery; Lecturer Teachers' College, ColumbiaUniversity, and Simmons College; formerly Editor "American Kitchen Magazine;"Author "Home Science Cook Book."

ALFRED CLEVELAND COTTON, A.M., M.D.Professor Diseases of Children, Rush Medical College, University of Chicago; VisitingPhysician Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago; Author of "Diseases of Children."

BERTHA M. TERRILL, A.B.Professor in Home Economics in Hartford School of Pedagogy; Author of U.S.Government Bulletins.

KATE HEINTZ WATSONFormerly Instructor in Domestic Economy, Lewis Institute; Lecturer University of

Chicago.

MARION FOSTER WASHBURNEEditor "The Mothers' Magazine;" Lecturer Chicago Froebel Association; Author"Everyday Essays", "Family Secrets," etc.

MARGARET E. DODDGraduate Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Teacher of Science, WoodwardInstitute.

AMY ELIZABETH POPEWith the Panama Canal Commission; Formerly Instructor in Practical and TheoreticalNursing, Training School for Nurses, Presbyterian Hospital, New York City.

MAURICE LE BOSQUET, S.B.Director American School of Home Economics; Member American Public HealthAssociation and American Chemical Society.

CONTRIBUTORS AND EDITORSELLEN H. RICHARDSAuthor "Cost of Food," "Cost of Living," "Cost of Shelter," "Food Materials and TheirAdulteration," etc., etc.; Chairman Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics.

MARY HINMAN ABEL


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Author of U.S. Government Bulletins, "Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking," "SafeFood," etc.

THOMAS D. WOOD, M.D.Professor of Physical Education, Columbia University.

H.M. LUFKIN, M.D.Professor of Physical Diagnosis and Clinical Medicine, University of Minnesota.

OTTO FOLIN, Ph.D.Special Investigator, McLean Hospital, Waverly, Mass.

T. MITCHELL PRUDDEN, M.D., LL.D.Author "Dust and Its Dangers," "The Story of the Bacteria," "Drinking Water and IceSupplies," etc.

FRANK CHOUTEAU BROWNArchitect, Boston, Mass.; Author of "The Five Orders of Architecture," "Letters andLettering."

MRS. MELVIL DEWEYSecretary Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics.

HELEN LOUISE JOHNSONProfessor of Home Economics, James Millikan University, Decatur.

FRANK W. ALLEN, M.D.Instructor Rush Medical College, University of Chicago.

MANAGING EDITOR

MAURICE LE BOSQUET, S.B.Director American School of Home Economics.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS


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MRS. ARTHUR COURTENAY NEVILLE

President of the Board.

MISS MARIA PARLOA

Founder of the first Cooking School in Boston; Author of "Home Economics," "YoungHousekeeper," U.S. Government Bulletins, etc.

MRS. MARY HINMAN ABEL

Co-worker in the "New England Kitchen," and the "Rumford Food Laboratory;" Authorof U.S. Government Bulletins, "Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking," etc.

MISS ALICE RAVENHILL

Special Commissioner sent by the British Government to report on the Schools of HomeEconomics in the United States; Fellow of the Royal Sanitary Institute, London.

MRS. ELLEN M. HENROTIN

Honorary President General Federation of Woman's Clubs.

MRS. FREDERIC W. SCHOFF

President National Congress of Mothers.

MRS. LINDA HULL LARNED

Past President National Household Economics Association; Author of "Hostess of To-day."

MRS. WALTER McNAB MILLER

Chairman of the Pure Food Committee of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs.

MRS. J.A. KIMBERLY

Vice President of the National Household Economics Association.


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MRS. JOHN HOODLESS

Government Superintendent of Domestic Science for the province of Ontario; FounderOntario Normal School of Domestic Science, now the MacDonald Institute.

A MADONNA OF THE WILD.A Takima mother with papoose

STUDY OF CHILD LIFE

BY

MARION FOSTER WASHBURNE

ASSOCIATE EDITOR MOTHER'S MAGAZINEAUTHOR "EVERYDAY ESSAYS"

"FAMILY SECRETS" ETC.LECTURER TO CHICAGO FROEBEL ASSOCIATION

CHICAGOAMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS

1907


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CONTENTS

AN OPEN LETTER

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD

FAULTS AND THEIR REMEDIES

CHARACTER BUILDING

PLAY

OCCUPATIONS

ART AND LITERATURE IN CHILD LIFE

STUDIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

FINANCIAL TRAINING

RELIGIOUS TRAINING

APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES

OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN

THE SEX QUESTION

FATHERS

THE UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SUPPLEMENTAL STUDY PROGRAM

INDEX


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AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS

CHICAGO

January 1, 1907.

My dear Madam:

In beginning this subject of the "Study of Child Life" there may

be lurking doubts in your mind as to whether any reliable rules can

really be laid down. They seem to arise mostly from the perception of

the great difference between children. What will do for one child will

not do for another. Some children are easily persuaded and gentle,

others willful, still others sullen unresponsive. How, then, isit possible that a system of education and training can be devised

suitable for their various dispositions?

We must remember that children are much more alike than they are

different. One may have blue eyes, another gray, another black, but

they all have two. We are, therefore, in a position to make rules for

creatures having two eyes and these rules apply to eyes of all colors.

Children may be nervous, sanguine, bilious, or plethoric, but they all

have the same kind of internal organs end the same general rules of

health apply to them all.

In this series of lessons I have endeavored to set forth principles

briefly and to confirm them by instances within the experience of

every observer of childhood. The rules given are such as are held at

present by the best educators to be based upon sound philosophy, not

at variance with the slight array or scientific facts at our command.

Perhaps you yourself may be able to add to the number of reliable

facts intelligently reported that must be collected before much

greater scientific advance is possible.

There is, to be sure, an art of application of these rules both in

matters of health of body and of health of mind and this art must be

worked out by each mother for each individual child.

We all recognize that it is a long endeavor before we can apply to our

own lives such principles of conduct as we heartily acknowledge to be

right. Why, then, expect to be able to apply principles instantlyand unerringly to a little child? If a rule fails when you attempt

to apply it, before questioning the principle, may it not be well to

question your own tact and skill?

So far as I can advise with you in special instances of difficulty, I

shall be very glad to do so; not that I shall always know what to do

myself, but that we can get a little more light upon the problems by

conferring together. I know well how difficult a matter this of child

training is, for every day, in the management of my own family of


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children, I find each philosophy, science and art as I can command

very much put to the test.

Sincerely yours,

Instructor

STUDY OF CHILD LIFE

PART I.

The young of the human species is less able to care for itself than the young of any otherspecies. Most other creatures are able to walk, or at any rate stand, within a few hours ofbirth. But the human baby is absolutely dependent and helpless, unable even tomanufacture all the animal heat that he requires. The study of his condition at birth at

once suggests a number of practical procedures, some of them quite at variance with thetraditional procedures.

HOW THE CHILD DEVELOPS

Condition at Birth


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Let us see, then, exactly what his condition is. In the first place, he is, as Virchow, anauthority on physiological subjects declares, merely a spinal animal. Some of the higherbrain centers do not yet exist at all, while others are in too incomplete a state for service.The various sensations which the baby experiencesheat, light, contact, motion, etc.are so many stimuli to the development of these centers. If the stimulus is too great, the

development is sometimes unduly hastened, with serious results, which show themselveschiefly in later life. The child who is brought up a noisy room, is constantly talked to andfondled, is likely to develop prematurely, to talk and walk at an early age; also to fall intonervous decay at an early age. And even if by reason of an unusually good heredity heescapes these dangers, it is almost certain that his intellectual power is not so great inadult life as it would have been under more favorable conditions. A new baby, like ayoung plant, requires darkness and quiet for the most part. As he grows older, and showsa spontaneous interest in his surroundings, he may fittingly have more light, morecompanionship, and experience more sensations.

Weight at Birth

The average boy baby weighs about seven pounds at birth; the average girl, about six anda half pounds. The head is larger in proportion to the body than in after life; the nose isincomplete, the legs short and bowed, with a tendency to fall back upon the body with theknees flexed. This natural tendency should be allowed full play, for the flexed position issaid to be favorable to the growth of the bones, permitting the cartilaginous ends of thebones to lie free from pressure at the joints.

The plates of the skull are not complete and do not fit together at the edges. Great careneeds to be taken of the soft spot thus left exposed on the top of the headtheundeveloped place where the edges of these bones come together. Any injury here inearly life is liable to affect the mind.

State of Development

The bony enclosures of the middle ear are unfinished and the eyes also are unfinished. Itis a question yet to be settled, whether a new-born baby is blind and deaf or not. At a rate,he soon acquires a sensitiveness to both light and sound, although it is three years ormore before he has amassed sufficient experience to estimate with accuracy the distanceof objects seen or herd. He can cry, suck, sneeze, cough, kick, and hold on to a finger. Allof these acts, though they do not yet imply personality, or even mind, give evidence of awonderful organism. They require the co-operation of many delicate nerves and musclesa co-operation that has as yet baffled the power of scientists to explain.

Although the young baby is in almost constant motion while he is awake, he is altogether

too weak to turn himself in bed or to escape from an uncomfortable position, and heremains so for many weeks. This constant motion is necessary to his musculardevelopment, his control of his own muscles, his circulation, and, very probably, to thefree transmission of nervous energy. Therefore, it is of the first importance that he hasfreedom to move, and he should be given time every day to move and stretch before thefire, without clothes on. It is well to rub his back and legs at the same time, thussupplementing his gymnastics with a gentle massage.


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Educational Beginnings.

By the time he is four or five weeks old it is safe to play with him, a little every day, andFroebel has made his "Play with the Limbs" one of his first educational exercises. In thisplay the mother lays the baby, undressed, upon a pillow and catches the little ankles inher hands. Sometimes she prevents the baby from kicking, so that he has to struggle to

get his legs free; sometimes she helps him, so that he kicks more freely and regularly;sometimes she lets him push hard against her breast. All the time she laughs and sings tohim, and Froebel has made a little song for this purposes. Since consciousness is rousedand deepened by sensations, remembered, experienced, and compared, it is evident thatthis is more than a fanciful play; that it is what Froebel claimed for ita real educationalexercise. By means, of it the child may gain some consciousness of companionship, andthus, by contrast, a deeper self-consciousness.

First Efforts

The baby is at first unable to hold up its head, and in this he is just like all other animals,for no animal, except man, holds up its head constantly. The human baby apparently

makes the effort, because he desires to see more clearlyhe could doubtless see clearlyenough for all physical purposes with his head hung down, but not enough to satisfy hisawakening mentality. The effort to hold the head up and to look around is thereforeregarded by most psychologists as one of the first tokens of an awakening intellectuallife. And this is true, although the first effort seems to arise from an overplus of nervousenergy which makes the neck muscles contract, just as it makes other muscles contract.The first slight raisings of the head are like the first kicking movements, merelyimpulsive; but the child soon sees the advantage of this apparently accidental movementand tries to master it. Preyer[A]considers that the efforts to balance the head among thefirst indications that the child's will is taking possession of his muscles. His own boyarrived at this point when he was between three and four months old.

Reflex Grasping

The grasp of the new-born baby's hand has a surprising power, but the baby himself haslittle to do with it. The muscles act because of a stimulus presented by the touch of thefingers, very much as the muscles of a decapitated frog contract when the current ofelectricity passes over them. This is called reflex grasping, and Dr. Louis Robinson, [B]

thinking that this early strength of gasp was an important illustration of and evidence forevolution, tried experiments on some sixty new-born babies. He found that they couldsustain their whole weight by the arms alone when their hands were clasped about aslender rod. They grasped the rod at once and could be lifted from the bed by it and keptin this position about half a minute. He argued that this early strength of arm, which soon

begins to disappear, was survival from the remote period when the baby's ancestors weremonkeys or monkey-like people who lived in trees.

Beginnings Of Will Power

However this may be, during the first week the baby's hands are much about his face. Byaccident they reach, the mouth, they are sucked; the child feels himself suck its own fist;he feels his fist being sucked. Some day it will occur to him that that fist belongs to thesame being who owns the sucking mouth. But at this point, Miss Shinn [C] has observed,


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the baby is often surprised and indignant that he cannot move his arms around and at thesame time suck his fist. This discomfort helps him to make an effort to get his fist into hismouth and keep it there, and this effort shows his will, beginning to take possession of hishands and arms.

Growth of Will

Since any faculty grows by its own exercise, just as muscles grow by exercise, every timethe baby succeeds in getting his hands to his mouth as a result of desire, every time thathe succeeds in grasping an object as result of desire, his will power grows. Action of thisnature brings in new sensations, and the brain centers used for recording such sensationsgrow.

As the sensations multiply, he compares them, and an idea is born. For the beginnings ofmental development no other mechanism is actually needed than a brain and a hand andthe nerves connecting them. Laura Bridgeman and Helen Keller, both of them deaf andblind, received their education almost entirely through their hands, and yet they wereunusually capable of thinking. The child's hands, then, from the beginning, are theservants of his brain-instruments by means of which he carries impressions from theouter world to the seat of consciousness, and by which in turn he imprints hisconsciousness upon the outer world.

Intentional Grasping

The average baby does not begin to grasp objects with intention before the fourth month.The first grasping seems to be done by feeling, without the aid of the eye, and is donewith the fingers with no attempt to oppose the thumb to them. So closely does the use ofthe thumbs set opposite the fingers in grasping coincide with the first grasping with theaid of sight, that some observers have been led to believe that as soon as the baby learnsto use its thumb in this way he proves that he is beginning to grasp with intention.

Order of Development

The order of development seems to be, first, automatism, the muscles contracting ofthemselves in response to nervous stimuli; second, instinct, the inherited wisdom of therace, which discovered ages ago that the hand could be used to greater advantage whenthe thumb was separated from the fingers; and thirdly, the child's own intelligence andwill making use of this natural and inherited machinery. This order holds true of thedevelopment, not only of the hand, but of the whole organism.

Looking

A little earlier than this, during the third month, the baby first looks upon his own handsand notices them. Darwin tells us that his boy looked at his own hands and seemed tostudy them until his eyes crossed. About the same then the child notices his foot and useshis hand to carry it to its mouth. It is some time later that he discovers that he can movehis feet without his hands.

Tearing


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About this time, three or four months old, the child begins to tear paper into pieces, andmay be easily taught to let the piece, that have found their way into his mouth be takenout again. Now, too, he begins to throw things, or to drop them; then he wants to get themback again, and the patient mother must pick them up and give them back many times.Sometimes a baby is punished for this proclivity, but it is really a part of his

development, and at least once a day he should be allowed to play in this manner to hisheart's content. It is tact, not discipline, that is needed, and the more he is helped thesooner he will live through this stage and come to the next point where he begins tothrow things.

Throwing

In this stage, of course, he must be given the proper things to throwsmall, bright-colored worsted balls, bean-bags, and other harmless objects. If he is allowed to discoverthe pleasure there is in smashing glass and china, he will certainly be, for a time, a verydestructive little person. When later he is able to creep throw his ball and creep after ithe will amuse himself for hours at a time, and so relieve those who have patiently

attended him up to this time.In general we may lay down the rule, that the more time andattention of the right sort is to a young child, the less will need to be given as he growsolder. It is poor economy to neglect a young child, and try to make it up on the growingboy or girl. This is to substitute a complicated and difficult problem for a simple one.

The Grasping Instinct

It is some time before a child's will can so overcome his newly-acquired tendency tograsp every possible object that he can keep his hand off of anything that invites him. Themany battles between mothers and children it the subject of not touching forbidden thingsare at this stage a genuine wrong and injustice to the child. So young a child is scarcelymore responsible for touching whatever he can reach that is a piece of steel for being

drawn toward a powerful magnet. Preyer says that it is years before voluntary inhibitionsof grasping become possible. The child has not the necessary brain machinery.Commands and sparring of the hands create bewilderment and tend to build up a barrierbetween mother and child. Instead of doing such thing, simply put high out of reach andsight whatever the child must not touch.

Another way in which young children are often made to suffer because of the ignoranceof parents is the leaving of undesired food on the child's plate. Every child, when he doesnot want his food, pushes the plate away from him, and many mothers push it back andscold. The real truth is that the motor suggestion of the food upon the plate is so strongthat the child feels as if he were being forced to eat it every time he looks at the plate; toescape from eating it he is obliged to push it out of sight.

The Three Months' Baby

But this difficulty comes later. Now we are concerned with a three-months-old baby. Atthis stage the child is usually able to balance his head, to sit up against pillows, to seizeand grasp objects, and to hold out his arm, when he wishes to be taken. Although he mayhave made number of efforts to sit erect, and may have succeeded for a few minutes at a


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time, he still is far from being able to sit alone, unsupported. This he does not accomplishuntil the fifth or the month.

Danger of Forcing

There is nothing to be gained by trying to make him sit alone sooner; indeed, there is

danger in itdanger in forcing young bones and muscles to do work beyond theirstrength, and danger also to the nerves. It is safe to say that a normal child alwaysexercises all its faculties to the utmost without need of urging, and any exercise beyond

the point of natural fatigue, if persisted in, is sure to bring about abnormal results.

Creeping

The first efforts toward creeping often appear in the bath when the child turns over andraise, himself upon his hands and knees. This is sign that he might creep sooner, if hewere not impeded by clothing. He should be allowed to spread himself upon a blanketevery day for an hour or two, and to get on his knees as frequently as he pleases. Often heneeds a little help to make him creep forward, for most babies creep backward at first,

their arms being stronger than their legs. Here the mother may safely interfere, pushingthe legs as they ought to go and showing the child how to manage himself; for very oftenhe becomes much excited over his inability to creep forward.

The climbing instinct begins to appear by this timethe seventh monthand here thestair-case has its great advantages. It ought not to be shut from him by a gate, but heshould be taught how to climb up and down it in safety. To do this, start him at the headof the stairs, and, you yourself being below him, draw first one knee and then the otherover the step, thus showing him how to creep backward. Two lessons of about twentyminutes each will be sufficient. The only danger is creeping down head foremost, but ifhe once learns thoroughly to go backward, and has not been allowed the other way at all,he will never dream of trying it. In going down backward, if he should slip, he can easilysave himself by catching the stairs with his hands as he slips past.

The child who creeps is often later in his attempts to walk than the child who does not;and, therefore, when he is ready to walk, his legs will be all the stronger, and the dangerof bow-legs will be past. As long as the child remains satisfied with creeping, he is notyet ready either mentally or physically for walking.

Standing

If the child has been allowed to creep about freely, he will soon be standing. He will pullhimself to his feet by means of any chair, table, or indeed anything that he may get holdof. To avoid injuring him, no flimsy chairs or spindle-legged tables should be allowed in

his nursery. He will next begin to sidle around a chair, shuffling his feet in a vaguefashion, and sometimes, needing both of his hands to seize some coveted object, he willstand without clinging, leaning on his stomach. An unhurried child may remain at thisstage for weeks.

Walking

Let alone, as he should be, he will walk without knowing how he does it, and will be thestronger for having overcome his difficulties himself. He should not be coaxed to stand or


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walk. The things in his room actually urge him to come and get them. Any furtherpersuasion is forced, and may urge him beyond his strength.

Walking-chairs and baby-jumpers are injurious in this respect. They keep the child fromhis native freedom of sprawling, climbing, and pulling himself up. The activity they dopermit is less varied and helpful than the normal activity, and the child, restricted from

the preparatory motions, begins to walk too soon.

Alternate Growth

A curious fact in the growth of children is that they seem to grow heavier for a certainperiod, and then to grow taller for a similar period. That is, a very young baby, say, twomonths old, will grow fatter for about six weeks, and then for the next six weeks willgrow longer, while the child of six years changes his manner of growth every three orfour months. These periods are variable, or at least their law has not yet been established,but the observant mother can soon make the period out for herself in the case of her ownchild. For two or three days, when the manner of growth seems to be changing frombreadth to length, and vice versa, the children are likely to be unusually nervous andirritable, and these aberrations must, of course, be patiently borne with.

Precocity

Early Ripening

In all these things some children develop earlier than others, but too early development isto be regretted. Precocious children are always of a delicate nervous organization. Fiske[D] has proved to us that the reason why the human young is so far more helpless anddependent than the young of any other species is because the activities of the human racehave become so many, so widely varied, and so complex, that they could not fixthemselves in the nervous structure before birth. There a only a few things that the chickneeds to know in order to lead a successful chicken life; as a consequence these few

things are well impressed upon the small brain before ever he chips the shell; but thebaby needs to learn a great many thingsso many that there is no time or room toimplant them before birth, or indeed, in the few years immediately succeeding birth. Tohurry the development, therefore, of certain few of these faculties, like the faculties oftalking, and walking, of imitation or response, is to crowd out many other facultiesperhaps just beginning to grow. Such forcing will limit the child's future development tothe few faculties whose growth is thus early stimulated. Precocity in a child, therefore, isa thing to be deplored. His early ripening foretells a early decay and a wise mother is shewho gives her child ample opportunity for growing, but no urging.

Ample Opportunity for Growth

Ample opportunity for growth includes (1) Wholesome surroundings, (2) Sufficientsleep, (3) Proper clothing, (4) Nourishing food. We will take up these topics in order.

[A]


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W. Preyer. Professor of Physiology, of Jena, author of "The Mind of the Child." D.Appleton & Co.

[B]

Dr. Robinson. Physician and Evolutionist, paper in The Eclectic, Vol. 29.

[C]

Miss Millicent Shinn, American Psychologist, author of "Biography of a Baby."

[D]

John Fiske, writer on Evolutionary Philosophy. His theory of infancy is perhaps his mostimportant contribution to science.

WHOLESOME SURROUNDINGS

The whole house in which the child lives ought to be well warmed and equally well aired.Sunlight also is necessary to his well-being. If it is impossible to have this in every room,as sometimes happens in city homes, at least the nursery must have it. In the centralStates of the Union plants and trees exposed to the southern sun put forth their leaves twoweeks sooner than those exposed to the north. The infant cannot fail to profit by the samecondition, for the young child may be said to lead in part a vegetative as well as ananimal life, and to need air and sunshine and warmth as much as plants do. The very bestroom in the house is not too good for the nursery, for in no other room is such important

and delicate work being done.


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Temperature

The temperature is a matter of importance. It should not be decided by guess-work, but athermometer should be hung upon a wall at a place equally removed from draft and from

the source of heat. The temperature for children during the first year should be about 70degrees Fahrenheit during the day and not lower than 50 degrees at night. Children whosleep with the mother will not be injured by a temperature 5 to 20 degrees lower at night.

Fresh Air

It is important to provide means for the ingress of fresh air. It is not sufficient to air theroom from another room unless that other room has in it an open window. Even then thenursery windows should be opened wide from fifteen minutes to half an hour night andmorning, while the child is in another room; and this even when the weather is at zero orbelow. It does not take long to warm up room that has been aired. Perhaps the best meansof obtaining the ingress of fresh air without creating a draft upon the floor, where the

baby spends so much of his time, is to raise the window six inches at the top or bottomand insert a board cut to fit the aperture.

Daily Outing

But no matter how well ventilated the nursery may be, all children more than six weeksold need unmodified outside air, and need it every day, no matter what the weather,unless they are sick.


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The daily outing secures them better appetites, quiet sleep, and calmer nerves. Let thembe properly clothed and protected in their carriages, and all weathers are good for them.

Children who take their naps in their baby-carriages may with advantage be wheeled intoa sheltered spot, covered warmly, and left to sleep in the outer air. They are likely tosleep longer than in the house, and find more refreshment in their sleep.

SUFFICIENT SLEEP.

Few children in America get as much sleep as they really need. Preyer gives the record ofhis own child, and the hours which this child found necessary for his sleep and growthmay be taken for a standard. In the first month, sixteen, in full, out of twenty-four hourswere spent in sleep. The sleep rarely lasted beyond two hours at a time. In the secondmonth about the same amount was spent in sleep, which lasted from three to six hours ata time. In the sixth month, it lasted from six to eight hours at a time, and began todiminish to fifteen hours in the twenty-four. In the thirteenth month, fourteen hours' sleepdaily; it the seventeenth, prolonged sleep began, ten hours without interruption; in the

twentieth, prolonged sleep became habitual, and sleep in the day-time was reduced to twohours. In the third year, the night sleep lasted regularly from eleven to twelve hours, andsleep in the daytime was no longer required.

Naps

Preyer's record stops here. But it may be added that children from three to eight years stillrequire eleven hours' sleep; and, although the child of three nay not need a daily nap, it iswell for him, until he is six years old, to lie still for an hour in the middle of the day,amusing himself with a picture book or paper and pencil, but not played with or talked toby any other person. Such a rest in the middle of the day favors the relaxation of musclesand nerves and breaks the strain of a long day of intense activity.

PROPER CLOTHING.

Proper clothing for a child includes three things: (a) Equal distribution of warmth, (b)Freedom from restraint, (c) Light weight.

Equal distribution of warmth is of great importance, and is seldom attained. The ordinary

dress for a young baby, for example, leaves the arms and the upper part of the chestunprotected by more than one thickness of flannel and one of cottonthe shirt and thedress. About the child's middle, on the contrary, there are two thicknesses of flannelashirt and bandand five of cotton, i.e., the double bands of the white and flannelpetticoats, and the dress. Over the legs, again, are two thicknesses of flannel and two ofcotton, i.e., the pinning blanket, flannel skirt, white skirt, and dress. The child in acomfortably warm house needs two thicknesses of flannel and one of cotton all over it,and no more.


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The Gertrude Suit

The practice of putting extra wrappings about the abdomen is responsible for unduetenderness of those organs. Dr. Grosvenor, of Chicago, who designed a model costumefor a baby, which he called the Gertrude suit, says that many cases of rupture are due tobandaging of the abdomen. When the child cries the abdominal walls normally expand; if

they are tightly bound, they cannot do this, and the pressure upon one single part, whichthe bandages may not hold quite firmly, becomes overwhelming, and results in rupture.Dr. Grosvenor also thinks that many cases of weak lungs, and even of consumption inlater life, are due to the tight bands of the skirts pressing upon the soft ribs of the youngchild, and narrowing the lung space.

Objection to the Pinning Blanket

Freedom from restraint.. Not only should the clothes not bind the child's body in anyway, but they should not be so long as to prevent free exercise of the legs. The pinning-blanket is objectionable on this account. It is difficult for the child to kick in it; and as wehave seen before, kicking is necessary to the proper development of the legs. Undue

length of skirt operates in the same waythe weight of cloth is a check upon activity.The first garment of a young baby should not be more than a yard in length from the neckto the bottom of the hem, and three-quarters of a yard is enough for the inner garment.

The sleeves, too, should be large and loose, and the arm-size should be roomy, so as toprevent chafing. The sleeves may be tied in at the wrist with a ribbon to insure warmth.

Lightness of weight. The underclothing should be made of pure wool, so as to gain thegreatest amount of warmth from the least weight. In the few cases where wool wouldcause irritation, a silk and wool fixture makes a softer but more expensive garment.Under the best conditions, clothes restrict and impede free development somewhat, andthe heavier they are the more they impede it. Therefore, the effort should be to get thegreatest amount of warmth with the least possible weight. Knit garments attain this mostperfectly, but the next best thing is all-wool flannel of a fine grade. The weave known asstockinet is best of all, because goods thus made cling to the body and yet restrict itsactivity very little.

The best garments for a baby are made according to the accompanying diagram.

Princess Garment


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They consist of threegarments, to be worn oneover the other, each one aninch longer in every waythan the underlying one.

The first is a princessgarment, made of whitestockinet, which takes theplace of shirt, pinning-blanket, and band. Beforecutting this out, a box-pleatan inch and a half wideshould be laid down themiddle of the front, and aside pleat three-fourths ofan inch wide on either side

of the placket in the back.The sleeve should have atuck an inch wide. Thesetucks and pleats are betterrun in be hand, so that theymay be easily ripped. As thebaby grows and the flannelshrinks, these tucks andpleats can be let out.

The next garment, which goes over this, is made in the same way, only an inch larger inevery measurement. It is made of baby flannel, and takes the place of the flannel petticoat

with its cotton band. Over these two garments any ordinary dress may be worn. Dressedin this suit, the child is evenly covered with too thicknesses of flannel and one of cotton.As the skirts are rather short, however, and he is expected to move his legs about freely,he may well wear long white wool stockings.

As the child grows older, the principles underlying this method of clothing should beborne in mind, and clothes should be designed and adapted so as to meet these threerequirements.

FOOD.

Natural Food

Bottle-fed Babies

The natural food of a young baby is his mother's milk, and no satisfactory substitute for ithas yet been found. Some manufactured baby foods do well for certain children; to others


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they are almost poison; and for none of them are they sufficient. The milk of the cow isnot designed for the human infant. It contains too much casein, and is too difficult ofdigestion. Various preparations of milk and grains are recommended by nurses andphysicians, but no conscientious nurse or physician pretends that any of them begins toequal the nutritive value of human milk. More women can nurse their babies than now

think they can; the advertisements of patent foods lead them to think the rather of littleimportance, and they do not make the necessary effort to preserve and increase thenatural supply of milk. The family physician can almost always better the condition ofthe mother who really desires to nurse her own child, and he should be consulted and hisdirections obeyed. The importance of a really great effort to this direction is shown by thefact that the physical culture records, now so carefully kept in many of our schools andcolleges, prove that bottle-fed babies are more likely to be of small stature, and to havedeficient bones, teeth and hair, than children who have been fed on mother's milk.

Simple Diet

The food question is undoubtedly the most important problem to the physical welfare of

the child, and has, as well, a most profound effect upon his disposition and character.Indiscriminate feeding is the cause of much of the trouble and worry of mothers. Thissubject is taken up at length in other papers of this course, and it will suffice to say herethat the table of the family with young children should be regulated largely by the needsof the growing sons and daughters. The simplified diet necessary may well be of benefitto other members of the family.

FAULTS AND THEIR REMEDIES.The child born of perfect parents, brought up perfectly, in a perfect environment, wouldprobably have no faults. Even such a child, however, would be at times inconvenient, andwould do and say things at variance with the order of the adult world. Therefore he mightseem to a hasty, prejudiced observer to be naughty. And, indeed, imperfectly born,imperfectly trained as children now are, many of their so-called faults are no more thansuch inconvenient crossings of an immature will with an adult will.


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The Child's World and the Adult's World

No grown person, for instance, likes to be interrupted, and is likely to regard the childwho interrupts him wilfully naughty. No young child, on the contrary, objects to being

interrupted in his speech, though he may object to being interrupted in his play; and hecannot understand why an adult should set so much store on the quiet listening which isso infrequent in his own experience. Grown persons object to noise; children delight in it.Grown persons like to have things kept in their places; to a child, one place as good asanother. Grown persons have a prejudice in favor of cleanliness; children like to swim,but hate to wash, and have no objections whatever to grimy hands and faces. None ofthese things imply the least degree of obliquity on the child's part; and yet it is safe to saythat nine-tenths of the children who are punished are punished for some of these things.The remedy for these inconveniences is time and patience. The child, if left to himself,without a word of admonishment, would probably change his conduct in these respects,merely by the force of imitation, provided that the adults around him set him, a persistent

example of courtesy, gentleness, and cleanliness.

Real Faults

The faults that are real faults, as Richter[A] says, are those faults which increase with age.These it is that need attention rather than those that disappear of themselves as the childgrows older. This rule ought to be put in large letters, that every one who has to trainchildren may be daily reminded by it; and not exercise his soul and spend his force intrying to overcome little things which may perhaps be objectionable, but which will


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vanish to-morrow. Concentrate your energies on the overcoming of such tendencies asmay in time develop into permanent evils.

Training the Will

To accomplish this, you most, of course, train the child's own will, because no one can

force another person into virtue against his will. The chief object of all training is, as weshall see in the next section, to lead the child to love righteousness, to prefer right doingto wrong doing; to make right doing a permanent desire. Therefore, in all the proceduresabout to be suggested, an effort is made to convince the child of the ugliness andpainfulness of wrong doing.

Natural Punishment

Punishment, as Herbert Spencer [B] agrees with Froebel[C] in pointing out, should be asnearly as possible a representation of the natural result of the child's action; that is, thefault should be made to punish itself as much as possible without the interference of anyoutside person; for the object is not to make the child bend his will to the will of another,

but make him see the fault itself as an undesirable thing.

Breaking the Will

The effort to break the child's will has long been recognized as disastrous by alleducators. A broken will is worse misfortune than a broken back. In the latter case theman is physically crippled; in the former, he is morally crippled. It is only a strong,unbroken, persistent will that is adequate to achieve self-mastery, and mastery of thedifficulties of life. The child who is too yielding and obedient in his early days is only toolikely to be weak and incompetent in his later days. The habit of submission to a moremature judgment is a bad habit to insist upon. The child should be encouraged to thinkout things for himself; to experiment and discover for himself why his ideas do not work;

and to refuse to give them up until he is genuinely convinced of their impracticability.

Emergencies

It is true that there are emergencies in which his immature judgment and undisciplinedwill must yield to wiser judgment and steadier will; but such yielding should not besuffered to become habitual. It is a safety valve merely, to be employed only when thepressure of circumstances threatens to become dangerous. An engine whose safety valveshould be always in operation could never generate much power. Nor is there muchdifficulty in leading even a very strong-willed and obstinate child to give up his own wayunder extraordinary circumstances. If he is not in the habit of setting up his own willagainst that of his mother or teacher, he will not set it up when the quick, unfamiliar word

of command seems to fit in the with the unusual circumstances. Many parents practicecrying "Wolf! wolf!" to their children, and call the practice a drill of self-control; but theymeet inevitably with the familiar consequences: when the real wolf comes the hackneyedcry, often proved false, is disregarded.


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Disobedience

When the will is rightly trained, disobedience is a fault that rarely appears, because, ofcourse, where obedience is seldom required, it is seldom refused. The child needs to obey

that is true; but so does his mother need to obey, and all other persons about him. Theyall need to obey God, to obey the laws of nature, the impulses of kindness, and to followafter the ways of wisdom. Where such obedience is a settled habit of the entirehousehold, it easily, and, as it were, unconsciously, becomes the habit of the child. Wheresuch obedience is not the habit of the household, it is only with great difficulty that it canbecome the habit of the child. His will must set itself against its instinct of imitativeness,and his small house, not yet quite built, must be divided against itself. Probably no coldeven rendered entire obedience to any adult who did not himself hold his own wishes insubjection. As Emerson says, "In dealing with my child, my Latin and my Greek, myaccomplishments and my money, stead me nothing, but as much soul as I have avails. If Ia willful, he sets his will against mine, one for one, and leaves me, if I please, the

degradation of beating him by my superiority of strength. But, if I renounce my will andact for the soul, setting that up as an umpire between us two, out of his young eyes looksthe same soul; he reveres and loves with me."

Negative Goodness

Suppose the child to be brought to such a stage that he is willing to do anything his fatheror mother says; suppose, even, that they never tell him to do anything that he does notafterwards discover to be reasonable and just; still, what has he gained? For twenty years


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he has not had the responsibility for a single action, for a single decision, right or wrong.What is permitted is right to him; what is forbidden is wrong. When he goes out into theworld without his parents, what will happen? At the best he will not lie, or steal, orcommit murder. That is, he will do none of these things in their bald and simple form.

But in their beginnings these are hidden under a mask of virtue and he has never been

trained to look beneath that mask; as happened to Richard Feveril, [D]sin may spring uponhim unaware. Some one else, all his life, has labeled things for him; he is not in the habitof judging for himself. He is blind, deaf, and helplessa plaything of circumstances. It isa chance whether he falls into sin or remains blameless.

Real Disobedience

Disobedience, then, in a true sense, does not mean failure to do as he is told to do. Itmeans failure to do the things that he knows to be right. He must be taught to listen andobey the voice of his own conscience; and if that voice should ever speak, as itsometimes does, differently from the voice of the conscience of his parents or teachers,its dictates must still be respected by these older and wiser persons, and he must bepermitted to do this thing which in itself may be foolish, but which is not foolish, to him.

Liberty

And, on the other hand, the child who will have his own way even when he knows it tobe wrong should be allowed to have it within reasonable limits. Richter says, leave to himthe sorry victory, only exercising sufficient ingenuity to make sure that it is a sorry one.What he must be taught is that it is not at all a pleasure to have his own way, unless hisown way happens to be right; and this he can only be taught by having his own way whenthe results are plainly disastrous. Every time that a willful child does what he wants to do,and suffers sharply for it, he learns a lesson that nothing but this experience can teachhim.

Self-Punishment

But his suffering must be plainly seen to be the result of his deed, and not the result of hismother's anger. For example, a very young child who is determined to play with fire maybe allowed to touch the hot lamp or a stove, whenever affairs can be so arranged that heis not likely to burn himself too severely. One such lesson is worth all the hand-spattingsand cries of "No, no!" ever resorted to by anxious parents. If he pulls down the blocksthat you have built up for him, they should stay down, while you get out of the room, ifpossible, in order to evade all responsibility for that unpleasant result.

Prohibitions are almost useless. In order to convince yourself of this, get some one to

command you not to move your right arm or to wink your eye. You will find it almostimpossible to obey for even a few moments. The desire to move your arm, which was notat all conscious before, will become overpowering. The prohibition acts like a suggestion,and is an implication that you would do the negative act unless you were commanded notto. Miss Alcott, in "Little Men," well illustrates this fact in the story of the children whowere told not to put beans up their noses and who straightway filled their noses withbeans.


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Positive Commands

As we shall see in the next section, Froebel meets this difficulty by substituting positivecommands for prohibitions; that is, he tells the child to do instead of telling him not to do.Tiedemann [E] says that example is the first great evolutionary teacher, and liberty is thesecond. In the overcoming of disobedience, no other teachers are needed. The method

may be tedious; it may be many years before the erratic will is finally led to work inorderly channels; but there is no possibility of abridging the process. There is no shortand sudden cure for disobedience, and the only hope for final cure is the steady workingof these two great forces, example and liberty.

To illustrate the principles already indicated, we will consider some specific problemstogether with suggestive treatment for each.

[Footnote A: Jean Paul Richter, "Der einsige." German writer and philosopher. His ratherwhimsical and fragmentary book on education, called "Levana," contains some rarescraps of wisdom much used by later writers on educational topics.] [Footnote B: HerbertSpencer, English Philosopher and Scientist. His book on "Education" is sound andpractical.] [Footnote C: Freidrich Froebel, German Philosopher and Educator, founder ofthe Kindergarten system, and inaugurator of the new education. His two great books are"The Education of Man" and "The Mother Play."] [Footnote D: "The Ordeal of RichardFeveril," by George Meredith.] [Footnote E: Tiedemann, German Psychologist.]

[A]

Jean Paul Richter, "Der einsige." German writer and philosopher. His rather whimsicaland fragmentary book on education, called "Levana," contains some rare scraps ofwisdom much used by later writers on educational topics.

[B]Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher and Scientist. His book on "Education" is soundand practical.

[C]

Freidrich Froebel, German Philosopher and Educator, founder of the Kindergartensystem, and inaugurator of the new education. His two great books are "The Education ofMan" and "The Mother Play."

[D]

"The Ordeal of Richard Feveril," by George Meredith.

[E]

Tiedemann, German Psychologist.


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QUICK TEMPER.

This, as well as irritability and nervousness, very often springs from a wrong physicalcondition. The digestion may be bad, or the child may be overstimulated. He may not besleeping enough, or may not get enough outdoor air and exercise. In some cases the fault

appears because the child lacks the discipline of young companionship. Even the mostexemplary adult cannot make up to the child for the influence of other children. Heperceives the difference between himself and these giants about him, and the perceptionsometimes makes him furious. His struggling individuality finds it difficult to maintainitself under the pressure of so many stronger personalities. He makes, therefore,spasmodic and violent attempts of self-assertion, and these attempts go under the name offits of temper.

The child who is not ordinarily strong enough to assert himself effectively will workhimself up into a passion in order to gain strength, much as men sometimes stimulatetheir courage by liquor. In fact, passion is a sort of moral intoxication.

RemedySolitude and Quiet

But whether the fits of passion are physical or moral, the immediate remedy is the samehis environment must be promptly changed and his audience removed. He needssolitude and quiet. This does not mean shutting him into a closet, but leaving him alone ina quiet room, with plenty of pleasant things about. This gives an opportunity for thedisturbed organism to right itself, and for the will to recover its normal tone. Someoccupation should be at handblocks or other toys, if he is too young to read; a goodbook or two, such as Miss Alcott's "Little Men" and "Little Women," when he is oldenough to read.

If he is destructive in his passion, he must be put in a room where there are very few

breakables to tempt him. If he does break anything he must be required to help mend itagain. To shout a threat to this effect through the door when the storm of temper is stillon, is only to goad him into fresh acts of rebellion. Let him alone while he is in thistemporarily insane state, and later, when he is sorry and wants to be good, help him torepair the mischief he has wrought. It is as foolish to argue with or to threaten the child inthis state as it would be were he a patient in a lunatic asylum.

It is sometimes impossible to get an older child to go into retreat. Then, since he cannotbe carried, and he is not open to remonstrance or commands, go out of the room yourselfand leave him alone there. At any cost, loneliness and quiet must be brought to bear uponhim.

Such outbursts are exceedingly exhausting, using up in a few minutes as much energy aswould suffice for many days of ordinary activity. After the attack the child needs rest,even sleep, and usually seeks it himself. The desire should be encouraged.

Precautions to be Taken

Every reasonable precaution should be taken against the recurrence of the attacks, forevery lapse into this excited state makes him more certain the next lapse and weakens thenervous control. This does not mean that you should give up any necessary or right


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regulations for fear of the child's temper. If the child sees that you do this, he will onoccasion deliberately work himself up into a passion in order to get his own way. Butwhile you do not relax any just regulations, you may safely help him to meet them. Givehim warning. For instance, do not spring any disagreeable commands upon him. Have hisduties as systematized as possible so that he may know what to expect; and do not under

any circumstances nag him nor allow other children to tease him.

SULLENNESS.

This fault likewise often has a physical cause, seated very frequently in the liver. See thatthe child's food is not too heavy. Give him much fruit, and insist upon vigorous exerciseout of doors. Or he may perhaps not have enough childish pleasures. For while mostchildren are overstimulated, there still remain some children whose lives are unduly

colorless and eventless. A sullen child is below the normal level of responsiveness. Heneeds to be roused, wakened, lifted out of himself, and made to take an active interest inother persons and in the outside world.

Inheritance and Example

In many cases sullenness is an inherited disposition intensified by example. It isunchildlike and morbid to an unusual degree and very difficult to cure. The mother of asullen child may well look to her own conduct and examine with a searching eye thepeculiarities of her own family and of her husband's. She may then find the cause of theevil, and by removing the child from the bad example and seeing to it that every daycontains a number of childish pleasures, she may win him away from a fault that willotherwise cloud his whole life.

LYING.

All lies are not bad, nor all liars immoral. A young child who cannot yet understand theobligations of truthfulness cannot be held morally accountable for his departure fromtruth. Lying is of three kinds.

(1.) The imaginative lie. (2.) The evasive lie. (3.) The politic lie.

Imaginative "Lying"

(1.) It is rather hard to call the imaginative lie a lie at all. It is so closely related to thecreative instinct which makes the poet and novelist and which, common among thepeasantry of a nation, is responsible for folk-lore and mythology, that it is rather anintellectual activity misdirected than a moral obliquity. Very imaginative children often


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do not know the difference between what they imagine and what they actually see. Theirminds eye sees as vividly as their bodily eye; and therefore they even believe their ownstatements. Every attempt at contradiction only brings about a fresh assertion of theimpossible, which to the child becomes more and more certain as he hears himselfaffirming its existence.

Punishment is of no use at all in the attempt to regulate this exuberance. The child's largestatements should be smiled at and passed over. In the meantime, he should beencouraged in every possible way to get a firm, grasp of the actual world about him.Manual training, if it can be obtained, is of the greatest advantage, and for a very youngchild, the performance every day of some little act, which demands accuracy and closeattention, is necessary. For the rest, wait; this is one of the faults that disappear with age.

The Lie of Evasion

(2.) The lie of evasion is a form of lying which seldom appears when the relationsbetween child and parents are absolutely friendly and open. However, the child who isvery desirous of approval may find it difficult to own up to a fault, even when he iscertain that the consequence of his offense will not be at all terrible. This is the moredifficult, because the more subtle condition. It is obvious that the child who lies merely toavoid punishment can be cured of that fault by removing from him the fear ofpunishment. To this end, he should be informed that there will be no punishmentwhatever for any fault that he freely confesses. For the chief object of punishment beingto make him face his own fault and to see it as something ugly and disagreeable, thatobject is obviously accomplished by a free and open confession, and no furtherpunishment is required.

But when the child in spite of such reassurance still continues to lie, both because hecannot bear to have you think him capable of wrong-doing, and because he is not willing

to acknowledge to himself that he is capable of wrong-doing, the situation becomes morecomplex. All you can do is to urge upon him the superior beauty of frankness; to praisehim and love him, especially when he does acknowledge a fault, thus leading him to seethat the way to win your approvalthat approval which he desires so intenselyis toface his own shortcomings with a steady eye and confess them to you unshrinkingly.

The Politic Lie

(3.) The politic lie is of course the worst form of lying, partly because it is so unchildlike.This is the kind of fault that will grow with age; and grow with such rapidity that themother must set herself against it with all the force at her command. The child who liesfor policy's sake, in order to achieve some end which is most easily achieved by lying, is

a child led into wrong-doing by his ardent desire to get something or do something.Discover what this something is, and help him to get it by more legitimate means. If youpoint out the straight path, and show the goal well in view, at the end of it, he may bepersuaded not to take the crooked path.

Inherited Crookedness

But there are occasionally natures that delight in crookedness and that even in earlychildhood. They would rather go about getting their heart's desire in some crooked,


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intricate, underhanded way than by the direct route. Such a fault is almost certain to be aninherited one; and here again, a close study of the child's relatives will often help themother to make a good diagnosis, and even suggest to her the line of treatment.

Extreme Cases

In an extreme case, the family may unite in disbelieving the child who lies, not merelydisbelieving him, when he is lying, but disbelieving him all the time, no matter what hesays. He must be made to see, and, that without room for any further doubt, that thecrooked paths that he loves do not lead to the goal his heart desires, but away from it. Hiswords, not being true to the facts, have lost their value, and no one around him listens tothem. He is, as it were, rendered speechless, and his favorite means of getting his ownway is thus made utterly valueless. Such a remedy is in truth a terrible one. While it isbeing administered, the child suffers to the limit of his endurance; and it is only justifiedin an extreme case, and after the failure of all gentler means.

JEALOUSY.

Justice and Love

Too often this deadly evil is encouraged in infancy, instead of being promptly uprootedas it ought to be. It is very amusing, if one does not consider the consequences, to sec alittle child slap and push away the father or the older brother, who attempts to kiss themother; but this is another fault that grows with years, and a fault so deadly that oncefirmly rooted it can utterly destroy the beauty and happiness of an otherwise lovely

nature. The first step toward overcoming it must be to make the reign of strict justice inthe home so obvious as to remove all excuse for the evil. The second step is to encouragethe child's love for those very persons of whom he is most likely to be jealous. If he isjealous of the baby, give him special care of the baby. Jealousy indicates a temperamentoverbalanced emotionally; therefore, put your force upon the upbuilding of the child'sintellect. Give him responsibilities, make him think out things for himself. Call upon himto assist in the family conclaves. In every way cultivate his power of judgment. Thewhole object of the treatment should be to strengthen his intellect and to accustom hisemotions to find outlet in wholesome, helpful activity.

One wise mother made it a rule to pet the next to the baby. The baby, she said, was boundto be petted a good deal because of its helplessness and sweetness, therefore she made aconscious effort to pet the next to the youngest, the one who had just been crowded out ofthe warm nest of mother's lap by the advent of the newcomer. Such a rule would go far toprevent the beginnings of jealousy.


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SELFISHNESS.

This is a fault to which strong-willed children are especially liable. The first exercise ofwill-power after it has passed the stage of taking possession of the child's own organismusually brings him into conflict with those about him. To succeed in getting hold of a

thing against the wish of someone else, and to hold on to it when someone else wants it,is to win a victory. The coveted object becomes dear, not so much for its own sake, asbecause it is a trophy. Such a child knows not the joy of sharing; he knows only the joysof wresting victory against odds. This is indeed an evil that grows with the years. Thechild who holds onto his apple, his Candy, or toy, fights tooth and nail everyone whowants to take it from him, and resists all coaxing, is liable to become a hard, sordid,grasping man, who stops at no obstacle to accomplish his purpose.

Yet in the beginning, this fault often hides itself and escapes attention. The selfish childmay be quiet, clean, and under ordinary circumstances, obedient. He may not even bequarrelsome; and may therefore come under a much less degree of discipline than hisobstreperous, impulsive, rebellious little brother. Yet, in reality, his condition calls for

much more careful attention than does the condition of the younger brother.

The Only Child

However, the child who has no brother at all, either older or younger, nor any sister, isalmost invited by the fact of his isolation to fall into this sin. Only children may beindeed, often areprecocious, bright, capable, and well-mannered, but they are seldomspontaneously generous. Their own small selves occupy an undue proportion of thefamily horizon, and therefore of their own.

Kindergarten a Remedy

This is where the Kindergarten has its great value. In the true Kindergarten the childrenlive under a dispensation of loving justice, and selfishness betrays itself instantly there,because it is alien to the whole spirit of the place. Showing itself, it is promptlycondemned, and the child stands convicted by the only tribunal whose verdict reallymoves hima jury of his peers. Normal children hate selfishness and condemn it, and theselfish child himself, following the strong, childish impulse of imitation, learns to hate hisown fault; and so quick is the forgiveness of children that he needs only to begin torepent before the circle of his mates receives him again.

This is one reason why the Kindergarten takes children at such an early age. Aiming, as itdoes, to lay the foundations for right thinking and feeling, it must begin before wrongfoundations are too deeply laid. Its gentle, searching methods straighten the strong will

that is growing crooked, and strengthen the enfeebled one.

Intimate Association a Help

But if the selfish child is too old for the Kindergarten, he should belong to a club.Consistent selfishness will not long be tolerated here. The tacit or outspoken rebuke ofhis mates has many times the force of a domestic rebuke; because thereby he seeshimself, at least for a time, as his comrades see him, and never thereafter entirely loseshis suspicion that they may be right. Their individual judgment he may defy, but their


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collective judgment has in it an almost magical power, and convinces him in spite ofhimself.

Cultivate Affections

Whatever strong affections the selfish boy shows most be carefully cultivated. Love for

another is the only sure cure for selfishness. If he loves animals, let him have pets, andgive into his hands the whole responsibility for the care of them. It is better to let the pooranimals suffer some neglect, than to take away from the boy the responsibility for theircondition. They serve him only so far as he can be induced to serve them. The chief rulefor the cure of selfishness is, then, to watch every affection, small and large, encourage it,give it room to grow, and see to it that the child does not merely get delight out of it, butthat he works for it, that he sacrifices himself for those whom he loves.

LAZINESS.

The Physical Cause

This condition is often normal, especially during adolescence. The developing boy or girlwants to lop and to lounge, to lie sprawled over the floor or the sofa. Quick movement isdistasteful to him, and often has an undue effect upon the heart's action. He is normallydreamy, languid, indifferent, and subject to various moods. These things are merelytokens of the tremendous change that is going on within his organism, and which heavilydrains his vitality. Certain duties may, of course, be required of him at this stage, but theyshould be light and steady. He should not be expected to fill up chinks and run errands

with joyful alacrity. The six- or eight-year-old may be called upon for these things, andnot he harmed, but this is not true of the child between twelve and seventeen. He hasabsorbing business on hand and should not be too often called away from it.

Laziness and Rapid Growth

Laziness ordinarily accompanies rapid growth of any kind. The unusually large child,even if he has not yet reached the period of adolescence, is likely to be lazy. His nervousenergies are deflected to keep up his growth, and his intelligence is often temporarilydulled by the rapidity of his increase in size.

Hurry Not Natural

Moreover, it is not natural for any child to hurry. Hurry is in itself both a result ofnervous strain and a cause of it; and grown people whose nerves have been permanentlywrenched away from normal quietude and steadiness, often form a habit of hurry whichmakes them both unfriendly toward children and very bad for children. These youngcreatures ought to go along through their days rather dreamily and altogether serenely.Every turn of the screw to tighten their nerves makes more certain some form of earlynervous breakdown. They ought to have work to do, of course,enough of it to occupyboth mind and bodybut it should be quiet, systematic, regular work, much of it


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performed automatically. Only occasionally should they be required to do things with aconscious effort to attain speed.

Abnormal Laziness

However, there is a degree of laziness difficult of definition which is abnormal; the child

fails to perform any work with regularity, and falls behind both at school and at home.This may be the result of (1) poor assimilation, (2) of anaemia, or it may be (3) the firstsymptom of some disease.

(1.) Poor assimilation may show itself either by (a) thinness and lack of appetite; (b) fatand abnormal appetite; (c) retarded growth; or (d) irregular and poorly made teeth andweak bones.

Anaemia

(2.) Anaemia betrays itself most characteristically by the color of the lips and gums.These, instead of being red, are a pale yellowish pink, and the whole complexion has a

sort of waxy pallor. In extreme cases this pallor even becomes greenish. As the disease isaccompanied with little pain, and few if any marked symptoms, beyond sleepiness andweakness, it often exists for some time without being suspected by the parents.

(3.) The advent of many other diseases is announced by a languid indifference tosurroundings, and a slow response to the customary stimuli. The child's brain seemsclouded, and a light form of torpor invades the whole body. The child, who is usuallyactive and interested in things about him, but who loses his activity and becomes dull andirresponsive, should be carefully watched. It may be that he is merely changing his formof growthi.e., is beginning to grow tall after completion of his period of laying onflesh, or vice versa. Or he may be entering upon the period of adolescence. But if it isneither of these things, a physician should be consulted.

Monotony

A milder degree of laziness may be induced by a too monotonous round of duties. Trychanging them. Make them as attractive as possible. For, of course, you do not requirehim to perform these duties for your sake, whatever you allow him to suppose about it,but chiefly for the sake of their influence on his character. Therefore, if the influence ofany work is bad, you will change it, although the new work may not be nearly so muchwhat you prefer to have him do. Whatever the work is, if it is only emptying waste-baskets, don't nag him, merely expect him to do it, and expect it steadily.

Helping

In their earlier years all children love to help mother. They like any piece of real workeven better than play. If this love of activity was properly encouraged, if the motherpermitted the child to help, even when he succeeded only in hindering, he might wellbecome one those fortunate persons who love to work. This is the real time for preventinglaziness. But if this early period has been missed, the next best thing is to take advantageof every spontaneous interest as it arises; to hitch the impulse, as it were, to some taskthat must be steadily performed. For example, if the child wants to play with tools, helphim to make a small water-wheel, or any other interesting contrivance, and keep him at it


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by various devices until he has brought it to a fair degree of completion Your aim is tostretch his will each time he attempts to do something a little further than it tends to go ofitself; to let him work a little past his first impulse, so that he may learn by degrees towork when work is needed, and not only when he feels like it.

UNTIDINESS.

Neatness Not Natural

Essentially a fault of immaturity as this is, we must beware how we measure it by a toosevere adult standard. It is not natural for any young creature to take an interest incleanliness. Even the young animals are cared for in this respect by their parents; the cowlicks her calf; the cat, her kittens; and neither calf nor kittens seem to take much interest

in the process. The conscious love of cleanliness and order grows with years, and seemsto be largely a matter of custom. The child who has always lived in decent surroundingsby-and-by finds them necessary to his comfort, and is willing to make a degree of effortto secure them. On the contrary, the street boy who sleeps in his clothes, does not knowwhat it is to desire a well-made bed, and an orderly room.

Remedies

Example

Habit

The obvious method of overcoming this difficulty, then, is not to chide the child for thefault, but to make him so accustomed to pleasant surroundings that he not help but desirethem. The whole process of making the child love order is slow but sure. It consists in (1)Patient waiting on nature: first, keep the baby himself sweet and clean, washing theyoung child yourself, two or three times a day, and showing your delight in hissweetness; dressing him so simply that he keeps in respectable order without thenecessity of a painful amount of attention. (2)Example: He is to be accustomed to orderlysurroundings, and though you ordinarily require him to put away some of his thingshimself, you do also assist this process by putting away a good deal to which you do notcall attention. You make your home not only orderly but pretty, and yourself, also, thathis love for you may lead him into a love for daintiness. (3) Habits: A few setobservances may be safely and steadfastly demanded, but these should be very few: Suchas that he should not come to breakfast without brushing his teeth and combing his hair,or sit down to any meal with unwashed hands. Make them so few that you can bepractically certain that they are attended to, for the whole value of the discipline is not inthe superior condition of his teeth, but in the habit of mind that is being formed.

IMPUDENCE.


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Impudence is largely due to, (1) lack of perception: (2) to bad example and to suggestion;and (3) to a double standard of morality.

Lack of Perception

(1.) In the first place, too much must not be expected of the young savages in the nursery.

Remember that the children there are in a state very much more nearly resembling that ofsavage or half-civilized nation than resembling your own, and that, therefore, while theywill undoubtedly take kindly to showy ceremonial, they are not ripe yet for most of thedelicate observances. At best, you can only hope to get the crude material of goodmanners from them. You can hope that they will be in the main kind in intention, and ascourteous under provocation as is consistent with their stage of development. If yousecure this, you need not trouble yourself unduly over occasional lapses into perfectlyinnocent and wholesome barbarism.

Good manners are in the main dependent upon quick sympathies, because sympathiesdevelop the perceptions. A child is much less likely to hurt the feelings or shock thesensibilities of a person whom he loves tenderly than of one for whom he cares verylittle. This is the chief reason why all children are much more likely to be offensive inspeech and action before strangers than when alone in the bosom of their families. Theyare so far from caring what a stranger thinks or feels that they cannot even forecast hisdispleasure, nor imagine its reaction upon mother or father. The more, then, that thechild's sympathies are broadened, the more he is encouraged to take an interest in allpeople, even strangers, the better mannered will he become.

Bad Example

(2.) Bad example is more common than is usually supposed. Very few parents areconsistently courteous toward their children. They permit themselves a sharp tone ofvoice, and rough and abrupt habits of speech, that would scarcely be tolerated by anyadult. Even an otherwise gentle and amiable woman is often disagreeable in her mannertoward her children, commanding them to do things in a way well calculated to exciteopposition, and rebuking wrong-doing in unmeasured terms. She usually reserves her softand gentle speeches for her own friends and for her husband's, yet discourtesy cannotbegin to harm them as it harms her children.

It is true that the children are often under foot when she is busiest, when, indeed, she is sodistracted as to not be able to think about manners, but if she would acknowledge toherself that she ought to be polite, and that when she fails to be, it is because she hasyielded to temptation; and if, moreover, she would make this acknowledgment openly toher children and beg their pardon for her sharp words, as she expects them to beg hers,

the spirit of courtesy, at any rate, would prevail in her house, and would influence herchildren. Children are lovingly ready to forgive an acknowledged fault, but keen-eyedbeyond belief in detecting a hidden one.

Double Standard

(3.) The most fertile cause of impudence is assumption of a double standard of morality,one for the child and another for the adult. Impudence is, at bottom, the child's perceptionof this injustice, and his rebellion against it. When to this double standard,a standard


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that measures up gossip, for instance, right for the adult and listening to gossip as wrongfor the childwhen to this is added the assumption of infallibility, it is no wonder thatthe child fairly rages.

For, if we come to analyze them, what are the speeches which find so objectionable? "Doit yourself, if you are so smart." "Maybe, I am rude, but I'm not any ruder than you are."

"I think you are just as mean as mean can be; I wouldn't be so mean!" Is this last speechany worse in reality than "You are a very naughty little girl, and I am ashamed of you,"and all sorts of other expressions of candid adverse opinion? Besides these forms ofimpudence, there is the peculiarly irritating: "Well, you do it yourself; I guess I can if youcan."

In all these cases the child is partly it the right. He is stating the feet as he sees it, andviolently asserting that you are not privileged to demand more of him than of yourself.The evil comes in through the fact that he is doing it in an ugly spirit. He is not onlydesirous of stating the truth, but of putting you in the wrong and himself in the right, andif this hurts you, so much the better. All this is because he is angry, and therefor, in

impudence, the true evil to be overcome is the evil of anger.

Example

Show him, then, that you are open to correction. Admit the justice of the rebuke as far asyou can, and set him an example of careful courtesy and forbearance at the very momentwhen these traits are most conspicuously lacking in him. If some special point isinvolved, some question of privilege, quietly, but very firmly, defer the consideration ofit until he is master of himself and can discuss the situation with an open mind and in acourteous manner.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

In all these examples, which are merely suggestive, it is impossible to lay down anabsolute moral recipe, because circumstances so truly alter casesin all these no mentionis made of corporal punishment. This is because corporal punishment is never necessary,never right, but is always harmful.

Moral Confusion

There are three principal reasons why it should not be resorted to: First, because it isindiscriminate. To inflict bodily pain as a consequence of widely various faults, leads tomoral confusion. The child who is spanked for lying, spanked for disobedience, andspanked again for tearing his clothes, is likely enough to consider these three things asmuch the same, as, at any rate, of equal importance, because they all lead to the sameresult. This is to lay the foundation for a permanent moral confusion, and a man whocannot see the nature of a wrong deed, and its relative importance, is incapable of guidinghimself or others. Corporal punishment teaches a child nothing of the reason why what he


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does is wrong. Wrong must seem to him to be dependent upon the will of another, and itsdisagreeable consequences to be escapable if only he can evade the will of that other.

Fear versus Love

Second: Corporal punishment is wrong because it inculcates fear of pain as the motive for

conduct, instead of love of righteousness. It tends directly to cultivate cowardice,deceitfulness, and angerthree faults worse than almost any fault against which it can beemployed. True, some persons grow up both gentle and straightforward in spite of thefact that they have been whipped in their youth, but it is in spite of, and not because of it.In their homes other good qualities must have counteracted the pernicious effect of thismistaken procedure.

Sensibilities Blunted

Third: Corporal punishment may, indeed, achieve immediate results such as seem at themoment to be eminently desirable. The child, if he be young enough, weak enough, andhelpless enough, may be made to do almost anything by fear of the rod; and some of the

things he may thus be made to do may be exactly the things that he ought to do; and thiscertainty of result is exactly what prompts many otherwise just and thoughtful persons tothe use of corporal punishment. But these good results are obtained at the expense of thefuture. The effect of each spanking is a little less than the effect of the preceding one. Thechild's sensibilities blunt. As in the case of a man with the drug habit, it requires a largerand larger dose to produce the required effect. That is, if he is a strong child capable ofenduring and resisting much. If, on the contrary, he is a weak child, whose slow buddingwill come only timidly into existence, one or two whippings followed by threats, maysuffice to keep him in a permanently cowed condition, incapable of initiative, incapableof spontaneity.

The method of discipline here indicated, while it is more searching than any corporalpunishment, does not have any of its disadvantages. It is more searching, because it neverblunts the child's sensibilities, but rather tends to refine them, and to make them moreresponsive.

Educative Discipline

Permanent Results

The child thus trained should become more susceptible, day by day, to gentle andelevating influences. This discipline is educative, explaining to the child why what hedoes is wrong, showing him the painful effects as inherent in the deed itself. He cannot,therefore, conceive of himself as being ever set free from the obligation to do right; forthat obligation within his experience does not rest upon his mother's will or ability toinflict punishment, but upon the very nature of the universe of which he is a part. Theeffects of such discipline are therefore permanent. That which happens to the child in thenursery, also happens to him in the great world when he reaches manhood. His nurserytraining interprets and orders the world for him. He comes, therefore, into the world notdesiring to experiment with evil, but clear-eyed to detect it, and strong-armed toovercome it.

We are now ready to consider our subject in some of its larger aspects.


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TEST QUESTIONS

The following questions constitute the"written recitation" which the regularmembers of the A.S.H.E. answer in writingand send in for the correction and commentof the instructor. They are intended toemphasize and fix in the memory the mostimportant points in the lesson.

STUDY OF CHILD LIFE.

PART I.

Read Carefully. In answering thesequestions you are earnestly requested not toanswer according to the text-book whereopinions are asked for, but to answeraccording to conviction. In all cases creditwill be given for thought and originalobservation. Place your name and full

address at the head of the paper; use yourown words so that your instructor may besure that you understand the subject.

1. How does Fiske account for the prolonged helplessness of the human infant? To whatpractical conclusions does this lead?

2. Name the four essentials for proper bodily growth.

3. How does the child's world differ from that of the adult?

4. In training a child morally, how do you know which faults are the most important andshould have, therefore, the chief attention?

5. In training the will, what end must be held steadily in view?

6. What are the advantages or disadvantages of a broken will?


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7. Is obedience important? Obedience to what? How do you train for prompt obedience inemergencies?

8. What is the object of punishment? Does corporal punishment accomplish this object?

9. What kind of punishment is most effective?

10. Have any faults a physical origin? If so, name some of them and explain.

11. What are the two great teachers according to Tiederman?

12. What can you say of the fault of untidiness?

13. What are the dangers of precocity?

14. What do you consider were the errors your own parents made in training their

children?

15. Are there any questions which you would like to ask in regard to the subjects taken upin this lesson?

NOTE.After completing the test, sign your full name.

STUDY OF CHILD LIFE

PART II.

CHARACTER BUILDING

Froebel's Philosophy

Although we have taken up the question of punishment and the manner of dealing withvarious childish iniquities before the question of character-building, it has only been donein order

study of child life by marion foster washburne

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